For the second to last week of the course, I have been assigned to read Sherman Alexie’s beautifully written novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I am an avid reader, and this is one of the most quotable novels I have ever read. This is my second time reading this novel, but given all that I have learned from this class, my perspective has changed since the first time around. In case you haven’t read it, the novel is about a 14 year old American-Indian boy named Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, whom is a budding cartoonist. Arnold lives on the poverty stricken Spokane reservation but transfers to a wealthy white school 22 miles away. It’s a tale of two identities; one white and wealthy, the other, poor and indian. At the heart of the book is his struggle to survive between the indian world and the white world. It is a tale of a struggle with identity, both self and tribal. What I love most about this book is Alexie’s ability to portray the harsh realities of oppression, poverty, alcoholism, violence and death in explicit realistic language that helps me understand something about what it’s like to be an American Indian in a white world.
This novel has brought me back to my questions about the struggles that persons with mental illness face in terms of self-identity. There is a large difference between seeing oneself has a person who’s mental illness is only a part, compared to someone who sees their mental illness as their overarching identity. What happens when a person with mental illness becomes too identified with their diagnosis? Once a person is labeled as mentally ill, everything else about them becomes suspect – even to themselves. This is evident when we see the difference between descriptions – mentally ill person or person with a mental illness. How we describe others has a huge impact on how they describe themselves. Thus, there is with out a doubt, a power that exist in each of these labels on self-identity- some of which have potentially negative consequences for the person labeled.
One of my favorite quotes from the novel:
– “I realized that, sure, I was a Spokane Indian. I belonged to that tribe. But I also belonged to the tribe of American immigrants. And to the tribe of basketball players. And to the tribe of bookworms.
And the tribe of cartoonists.
And the tribe of chronic masturbators.
And the tribe of teenage boys.
And the tribe of small-town kids.
And the tribe of Pacific Northwesterners.
And the tribe of tortilla chips-and-salsa lovers.
And the tribe of poverty.
And the tribe of funeral-goers.
And the tribe of beloved sons.
And the tribe of boys who really miss their best friends.
It was a huge realization.”
Hoping For Humanity 